Fact-checkers say Obama told the truth more often in Denver debate -- by a (Pinocchio) nose

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The experts are unanimous: Mitt Romney was the better debater in Denver. But which candidate was the better truth-teller?

Texas on the Potomac analyzed the results of fact-checking web sites and came to this conclusion: Most of the fact-finders found that Obama was more factual, although some called the battle of the facts a tie.

factcheck.org: The experts found plenty of exaggerations and false claims in both candidates arguments. Considering the higher number of false statements, Romney was targeted more than Obama.

politifact.com: The website rated claims as false, mostly false, half-true, mostly true or true. On the Denver debate they used the ends of the scale only once (Romney false). Both candidates are generally rate well as truth-tellers – with a slight advance for Obama.

The Washington Post: Fact-checker Glenn Kessler examined highlight-quotes of the debate. According to him the first debate is a tie when it comes to telling the truth.

cbsnews.com: The network’s website picked a group of key issues and checked them on facts, but was not as specific in its conclusions as the other fact-checkers. Again no advantage for Obama or Romney can be told by reading the fact-check.

cnn.com: The politics online portal concluded that Romney was guilty of “stretching his figures to the breaking point.”

Politico: This authoritative political site said policy expertst saw “details often so jarringly at odds that the two men seemed to be inhabiting two parallel universes.” Still, according to Politico’s results, Obama would have won this debate if it was about telling the truth.

Romney may have had the best line about facts — even if it wasn’t completely factual.

“Mr. President,” Romney said, “you’re entitled as the president to your own airplane and to your own house, but not to your own facts.”

In various cases the fact-checkers identify Romney as a “serial exaggerator” and “simplifycator” – especially when blaming Obama for the state of the economy. The President though sometimes made claims based on assumptions and outdated numbers. As factcheck.orgpoints out both candidates fell back on stories that they were telling months ago.

Here is a summary of the fact-checkers findings, issue by issue:

Taxes

The most controversial claim of the evening was when Obama said Romney calls for a $5 trillion tax cut within the next ten years, Romney responded he does not. The president is not right. He referred to the nonpartisan (but liberal-leaning) Tax Policy Center. However, finding the truth is hard to pin down because Romney still has not laid out the specifics of his plan. The governor proposes cutting personal federal income tax rates by 20 percent, in addition to extending the tax cuts enacted early in the Bush administration. Romney says he will offset those lost revenues by reducing tax deductions and eliminating loopholes. Until Romney specifies his changes, Obama’s claim is based on assumptions. Therefore fact-checkers rate him between “incorrect” and “half-true.” Obama’s claim may not be 100 percent true, but the truth-seekers also expressed doubt that the numbers in Romney’s tax plan could ever add up.

Deficit / Simpson-Bowles

Romney attacked Obama for having doubled the deficit instead of cutting it in half. This is what Obama promised four years ago. So, Romney quotes him accurately.

Apart from that, he’s wrong. According to the fact-checkers it’s not true that Obama doubled the deficit. He inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit when he became president. During his presidency the deficit never went higher than $1.4 Trillion and this fiscal year Obama reduced the deficit again to $1.2 trillion – right where he started. So, Obama did not keep his promise, but Romney is wrong with his attack.

In Denver the president also said he’s putting forward “a specific $4 trillion deficit reduction plan” (a modified version of the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan). At first sight that’s true – the plan is on Obama’s agenda.

However, if you look into the details there are some drawbacks. First of all, the reference to the Simpson-Bowles plan is inaccurate: Simpson-Bowles envisioned $4 trillion in debt reduction over nine years. The president’s plan though spreads the reduction over 10 years.

According to the Washington Post fact-check this means a major difference of around 50 percent. And secondly, the plan includes “more than $1 trillion in savings over the next 10 years from our drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq.” This is critical as both wars were deficit financed in the first place and already set to an end. So, in fact, Obama’s $4 trillion plan is not as good as it sounds.

Jobs

Romney claimed that 23 million people were out of work. This number is wrong. In August 12.5 million citizens were out of work. Romney later clarified his statement, saying “We’ve got 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work in this country.”

This comes closer to the truth: currently 8.2 million Americans who work part-time are looking for full-time work. And another 2.5 million that have not been looking for work within the last four weeks. This adds up to Romney’s 23 million.

Romney also said that 50 percent of college graduates this year are unemployed. The fact-checkers say that’s not true.

Romney is over-simplifying the facts: Apart from the numbers not being from this (but from last) year, he equates “unemployed” and “underemployed.” In fact, only a quarter of graduates could not find a job. The other quarter of Romney’s 50 percent found a job that does not require a college degree.

When Obama said he had created 5 million jobs in the private sector over the last 30 months, he was right. To be exact, it’s 5.1 million.

Medicare

Romney accused Obama of taking $716 billion from Medicare. But the fact is, the money isn’t being taken away from Medicare. Instead, Medicare would spend it, but over a longer period of time than was expected before the health care law. The law extends the solvency of the Medicare Part A trust fund. Fact-checkers rate Romney’s claim as half-true.

Obama, again, said that if Romney became president he would turn Medicare into a voucher program. Fact-checkers state that’s mostly true. Romney would give seniors a premium support payment toward private insurance, instead of the government payments to doctors and hospitals.

Obama also claimed that Romney’s voucher program couldn’t keep up with health care inflation, which would cost an average senior $6,000 a year. This is mostly wrong. Obama refers to Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan, but ignores that Ryan has updated his plan. So the number Obama uses is outdated. The new version of the plan includes the option for traditional Medicare, as well as a commitment that at least one health-care option would be fully covered by the government.

Health care

The Republican nominee said the Democratic incumbent failed to cut health care premiums by $2,500. He’s right. Obama admitted that they’ve gone up, but claimed “they’ve gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years.”

He’s not telling the truth. Fact-checkers say, that’s true of health care spending, but not of premiums.

Romney said “the CBO says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year.” He’s quoting the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, but he’s exaggerating. According to the CBO, it’s more likely that three to five million people would no longer obtain health insurance from their employer under the law. And this does not necessarily mean they would lose insurance entirely.

Romney also pretended that pre-existing conditions were covered under his health care plan. He left out an important condition: this only appeals for individuals who maintain continuous coverage. In fact, it doesn’t help sick people who have had a break in coverage or couldn’t get it before.